Story:Kings of Strife/Part 9
Part Nine Silverius and Maria’s impromptu airship trip was taking place in the middle of the day, and both of the two had a rested night despite the traumatic events that had interrupted their peace. There was no point in sleeping any longer, not when this trip would only last another hour or two, so Silverius and Maria had no choice but to be near each other and speak. After Silverius left his conference with Cidolas, the pilot, he sat in front of Maria and awkwardly held his hands together. He thought of next moves and further plans, but for the most part he thought of what he was going to say to Maria that wouldn’t alienate her. Thankfully for Silverius, Maria spoke first. “Aren’t you tired, sir Crono?” “…No. I don’t want to sleep, anyway. Aren’t you, though? You’ve had a long day.” “No,” Maria said with a shake of her head that tossed about her voluminous violet hair. “I don’t want to sleep. Not yet. I’m afraid that I might have a nightmare… again.” She shivered, and an image of a naked girl with golden eyes flashed in her consciousness. ‘You’re not alone with that,’ Silverius immediately thought, but he said nothing on the subject. “Not going to look out the window? I’m surprised.” “No,” she said again, this time sadly. “I think I’ve had enough of that for a while.” To brighten up her dismal words, Maria chuckled. Silverius humored her and indulged in one as well. “You don’t have to worry about that,” the mercenary said with an insincere, sad smile. “There’s nothing wrong with loving something. Do you want to go upstairs? Are you sure?” Maria started to shake her head no, but after Silverius pressing her, she wavered. Silverius smiled warmly. “It’s okay. Come on. I’ll go out with you.” He stood and held out his hand with the same warm smile. Maria looked up to him fearfully before adopting the same smile a moment later, taking his hand, and standing. “Okay then, sir Crono. I would like to see the outside, if it’s with you.” She led Silverius to the ladder leading to the upper deck and scaled it, her hand never leaving Silverius’. Within a minute the two were upstairs and exposed to the sapphire daylight skies. Cidolas’ airship was moving faster than the commercial one the two had taken earlier and the surface area of its upper deck was much smaller, so Silverius and Maria both held their free hands on the steel railing around the deck’s perimeter tightly for their safety. The wind was powerful up here, strong and ruthlessly in each of their faces, but not loud enough that it drowned out their normal speaking voices. Although the daytime atmosphere was not as majestic as the night was, especially lacking the occurrence of Azuleh’s Comet Shower, Maria still found herself entranced by all that she could see in front of her. Visible below the ship was miles and miles of navy blue ocean, stretching in every direction, and just above it she could see bunches of clouds and fog. The world as she saw it was not particularly mysterious or awe-inducing, simply pleasing to look at and exciting to be a part of. She couldn’t help but smile as she took wonder in all around her, including the mundane. “Oh, Silverius, doesn’t this just make you; I don’t know; doesn’t it just fill you with energy?” She turned, her hair flowing energetically in the wind, and gently squeezed Silverius’ hand. He had been looking off in the distance as if he were daydreaming in lieu of admiring, but with her words and gesture she brought him back to the real world, and he looked at her without comprehension. “This world. Being so high above the world, just you and me. Isn’t it wonderful?” ‘Just you and me…’ Silverius looked Maria in her eyes long and hard, his face a stone mask of apathy and internal strife. ‘What should I be feeling right now?’ For this moment, he felt like a lying fraud. He felt like a murderer. He felt like a traitor. For as long as he could remember, Silverius’ hands had been stained with blood. There had been many occasions for him to quit this life, but Silverius had never taken a single one. ‘This is who I am. It always has been.’ So what right did he have to tell Maria to be happy, or to wish for a happy ending with his life, or to be enjoying this moment with the girl in front of him? What right did he have to find her beautiful, or to have his heart race from their hands being clasped together, or to keep his eyes staring at Maria’s full lips, so close to his own? The last words of Kerry Fontaus, Silverius’ former best friend, drifted into his mind. The man had been laying with his arms sprawled open, his shed blood staining all of the snow around him. Tears were falling from the corners of his eyes, yet was looking up to Silverius with a smile. “This is how it should be,” he had said; “Somehow I always knew I’d be done in by you. That’s the life we chose to live… And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” ‘I’ve always known that,’ Silverius reflected. ‘So why am I still traveling with her? Why do I still dare to think I can be anything but a killer?’ He looked in her eyes and felt an incredible surge of emotion. She looked at him expectedly, with concern from his long silent pause, and her wide red eyes were almost as vibrant as the sea and skies behind her. Now, more than ever and despite – rather, in spite of everything that was going on with both herself and Silverius, Maria looked like the most beautiful woman Silverius had ever seen. Power, grace, unknowing beauty, aesthetic pleasure, emotional understanding, attachment, sympathy, ambition for him – in that moment, Silverius realized that Maria had it all, and she seemed as fond of him as he was. ‘How? How is it she is still so happy and bright, even after what we’ve been through? Even though she’s seen me kill, and I’ve seen her kill… how are we still so close? So happy together? What are these feelings she gives me, really?’ Maria grabbed onto Silverius’ other hand and pried it off the railing to the ship. “I have an idea, sir Crono. Come on! I want to dance!” She gave him a smile, trying her hardest to be happy and lighten his mood and doing well enough with it that she actually ended up being joyful. There was barely enough space on the upper deck for the two to move about for an extended period of time, and the wind jostled their flowing clothing around them, but still Maria held Silverius’ hand and guided him into an odd, elegant dance. There was no music, no practiced choreography, and no vocals besides Maria’s laugh – but Silverius was entranced as never before. He was speechless, and deep within his breast as never before, he felt an explosion of emotion. When he killed a man, Silverius’ eyes always narrowed until they lost their light; he always held his swords a bit too tightly; and his heart always stopped. He never felt any emotion, pain, or sympathy, only obligation. It was simply an action, a means to an end, something for him to be ashamed of, but not enough for him to actually change anything about it. This was simply a part of him that was not as clean as anyone else, and it was such a crucial part of him that eventually, there was nothing left. His entire life became his occupation at an early age. If he felt nothing while killing, and killing was all he ever did, then he never felt anything. Any illusion of a dream or a life ambition was just that – an illusion. He never really wanted anything in the future, not when he was content existing in the present. All of that had changed when he met Maria, and slowly by surely, his entire self had begun to change. Now, dancing to the motions of an invisible conductor, looking breathlessly at Maria’s smile and feeling the air brushing past every part of his body, he felt true emotion like never before. ‘I understand now,’ Silverius realized as he danced with Maria on the deck of the airship, their bodies moving in a perfect silent rhythm, close and far and near again. ‘I understand why I gave her my middle name, her and no one else. I understand why I don’t want to kill in front of her. I understand why I want to protect her, and why I don’t dislike traveling around with her. Why she makes me smile, and why she makes everything pretty again, and why I wish I could see the world with the same wonder she has. Why I never want to leave her. I understand why I dream about her now.’ Finally, coming to the same conclusion, the both of them started to slow down, their chests heaving from the intense motion and the focus of staying upright and mobile some thousand feet in the air. Their hands were still held together, fingers intertwined tightly as if to make a new constellation in the sky. Silverius and Maria looked deeply in each other’s eyes, black exploring red, and they stood close together with Maria’s waist leaning on the railing behind her. “Thank you, sir Crono, that was fun,” Maria said breathlessly with an enamored smile. “Don’t you -” Silverius put his hand around Maria’s waist and pulled her even closer to him, cutting off her speech with his lips. He closed his eyes and tilted his head, eagerly and happily kissing her passionately with the biggest smile he had worn in years. Tears ran down his cheeks. ‘I understand. It’s because I love her.’ ***** At the end of his suffering came contentment, but not a destination. Silverius and Maria had stood on the airship, embracing lovingly, for quite some time. Neither of them spoke, both too afraid of shattering the peaceful moment and both content with the silent affirmation of their feelings. Nothing needed to be said; they understood. That was enough. Soon the wind started to hasten, and they noticed that land was visible on the horizon. They would be arriving to wherever their destination was shortly. Silverius took Maria’s hand and led her back inside. At that point, she retreated to the bedroom and closed the door behind her with cheeks as red as her eyes. Perhaps she was tired; perhaps she was embarrassed, or afraid. It didn’t matter. Silverius was happy, but he shared in her awkwardness and uncertainty for the future. After his realization, what came next? What was their next goal, and where would they go from here? ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Silverius knew from the start. ‘As long as I’m with her, it doesn’t matter where I am.’ After only a moment alone in the common room, his thoughts returned to Cidolas Teftah, the enigmatic pilot and apparent benefactor. ‘I shouldn’t kill him,’ Silverius realized. Was this what being in love did to him? Was he weaker for it? ‘No. It’s just not necessary to kill anymore… Right?’ Regardless, he opened the door to the cockpit once again and nodded as Cidolas turned back to glance at him. “We’re almost there, aren’t we?” he asked the blond pilot. Cidolas nodded again in affirmment. “Speaking of… Where exactly is ‘there’?” “We will be landing in the country of Inusia, north of King’s Town. Then we will move southwest on foot, where we will guide you to a location in the Mirage Desert that requires our attention. We must move with haste to strike first, and on the way we will meet with the other two Heroes. Silverius thought on this. It made sense to land north of King’s Town, a large metropolis that housed many important and powerful Inusian people, so that the ship would evade detection and official inspections. This logic also justified the fact that they would be journeying on foot. “Sounds like a long trip,” he said finally. “Mind filling me in on the details behind these destinations?” “As we said, there are tasks that must be done, and others you must converge with. The Crystals have chosen three Heroes, and the world has no chance unless they work together. So you will meet them.” “I see…” No matter how he looked at it, Silverius couldn’t believe this story that the ‘Crystal guardian’ was spouting… but everything so far led to the blond indeed having some knowledge of the truth. ‘He knew that Kerry would find me, and he knew that I had the Crystal on me. I wonder what else he knows…’ “You keep saying Crystals… How many of these things are there? And just what are they, anyway?” Cidolas didn’t speak for a moment, as if studying what he would respond with. “They are ancient, and they are powerful. But we cannot tell you everything. Not yet.” “What? Why not?” Silverius frowned and his expression darkened. ‘You’re making it very hard for me to let you live,’ he wanted to say – but he kept his intentions to himself. Again, Cidolas paused, as if hesitating, before looking back to Silverius with the same sterilized, cold expression. “We must first be sure that you can be trusted. You, and the girl that you are involved with.” Silverius’ brow furrowed for a moment in confusion before his mouth opened silently in surprise. “You… You’re not saying Maria is suspicious, are you? Are you serious?” He didn’t bother to dispute the suspicion over his own self, because he was actually brainstorming for a way to escape from Cidolas and this entire affair. ‘But Maria is innocent. I know she is. I’m the one that brought her into all this.’ “You might want to watch your next words carefully, blondie.” Cidolas turned away and slightly shook his head, as if disappointed in Silverius’ reaction. “This is exactly why we cannot trust you entirely yet. You are too protective of that girl instead of the Crystal, especially since she is… A variable. One that we cannot count on.” “Alright, now you’re going too far. I know for a fact that Maria did nothing wrong. She’s just an innocent girl!” “Tell us, what exactly do you know about that woman?” “Wha… What?” Silverius paused. Something about Cidolas’ way of interrogating him made him uncomfortable. ‘There’s no way he knows. No way.’ “You’ve seen it, haven’t you? We know you have. We can tell from the fear that you hold her. Even though it is faint, you often look at her in the same way you look at us – with wariness, and with a guarded body. It might not occur to you, but you are afraid of her. She has power unlike any you have ever witnessed. Power that came from the influence of a Crystal.” “No!” Silverius paused and looked down with anger after his scream. “No. You don’t know anything about her. You’re wrong!” He refused to believe anything this mysterious man was saying, even if he didn’t fully understand what was being implied. ‘I trust Maria, not you. She doesn’t know anything about this dangerous life, or these crazy secret artifacts. I have to shield her from it. I’m going to escape with her.’ ‘That’s it,’ he realized after a moment of denial. Silverius looked up to the pilot with wide eyes as the blond man wrestled with the airship’s controls. ‘We’ll escape. Just me and her. This is our chance to get out of this life.’ Cidolas glanced back at the mercenary in this moment and took his face of epiphany for a moment of clarity, and nodded, pleased. “We are glad you are seeing the truth, even if your eyes are still closed in instinctive denial. We wish only the best for the Crystals, its Heroes, and the world. She appears harmless for now, but do not trust her entirely, and you will be better off.” As he opened the door and stepped out into the common room, Silverius swore he saw the door to the single bedroom closing. He stood looking at the door, confused and unsure if he had imagined the slight movement, but not long into his meditation the floor beneath him shuddered, and it felt as if gravity had taken hold on the airship once more and stronger than ever. The ship was starting to descend very closely to the ground now, and would be landing within minutes. This was where safety was paramount, and passengers were expected to be seated and strapped in – but Silverius had more important things to do. He walked to the door of the bedroom and knocked on it, his hand planted on the cabin wall for stability. After a moment, a muffled “Come in” echoed through the metal of the door, and Silverius entered the bedroom gingerly. Inside he found Maria seated on the bed with Silverius’ long black cloak wrapped around her body. She looked up at him as he entered before blushing and tearing her gaze away quickly. Silverius smiled slightly at her bashfulness and sat next to her on the bed at a comfortable distance. As cute as he found her blush to be, he soon re-entered a serious mindset, and his smile vanished. This was a time for planning, not for romance. He still had enough hard self-detachment to achieve that, at least. “Listen to me, Maria. I have some instructions for you. Okay? Do you think you’ll be able to follow my lead?” Slowly she returned her gaze and looked up to Silverius from beneath her bangs. The only bursts of color on her person besides the waxy black of her borrowed cloak was her pale skin, the violet of her hair, and the bright red, almost pink of her eyes. That, and the equally scarlet warmth on her cheeks. Silently, and with slightly parted lips, Maria nodded. Silverius smiled and tilted his neck in order to move in for a quick kiss. This time the embrace was expected, almost yearned for, and Maria’s lips were much more welcoming than before. He knew that if he put his arms around her, she would melt within his hands – but this was a thankful kiss, not one meant to express long-repressed feelings, so Silverius made no such motion. After a moment he pulled back with a grin – and a look of darkness in his eyes. “Listen closely.” Minutes later, the airship completed its landing without a single issue or delay. The small machine landed not far from a small forest of firs, and behind it stood a cliff leading out to the sea it had finished traversing. Far ahead lay the Inusian countryside, decorated with colors of fading grasses and recently fallen snow. Silverius and Maria left the airship hand in hand, both of them silent and aware of the environment around them. After them exited Cidolas Teftah, still in the dark green cloak of the Serpent Society. After closing the door to the common room behind him, he went to the back of the ship and started to unlock a compartment. “Just a moment,” he said as he fished for a key in the deep pockets of his cloak. “We are retrieving our method of transportation. Will a motorcycle suffice?” Silverius nodded and muttered a simple “Sure,” but his tone was dry and absentminded. He was presently occupied with his arms crossed and his eyes watching Cidolas’ every move. His brow furrowed deeply with thought. ‘No matter when I look at this guy, he never lets his guard down. I’ve seen how fast he can move… It looks like we have no other option.’ ‘Oh well,’ the mercenary concluded. ‘Sorry about this, guardian.’ He turned and nodded slightly at Maria, who nodded in response. She understood. “Hey, you never told me exactly where we’re supposed to be going, man…” Silverius started to walk towards Cidolas with his hands down at his side. For once, he wore his waist pouch on his back, near his sword – not on his front hip. “Don’t you think – Hey, what are you doing?!” Silverius feigned surprise as Maria reached into his pouch and ripped the Crystal out of it. Next she threw it to the hard metal hull of the airship as hard as she could. With a throw like that, the fragile jewel would likely shatter to pieces upon impact. Before Silverius could even finish his explanation, Cidolas ran and jumped with incredible power, rising high enough with arms outstretched to catch the Crystal before it could hit the airship. That was just what the mercenary expected. As he spoke, Silverius reached backwards, as if he was trying to stop Maria’s hands – but in actuality, he was wrenching his gunblade free from his belt. As the Crystal’s guardian flew right in front of him, arms outstretched and guard lowered, Silverius swung his sword around with the height of his power and speed. Blood pumped through his arms and right in his ears, and in the instant before his blade met Cidolas’ unguarded flesh, the mercenary and the pilot made eye contact. In the space of a moment, Silverius had won. His sword flew as it should have, and his attack had more power behind it than Silverius necessarily thought possible. Like an axe through paper, the mercenary’s sword cut right through Cidolas’ torso, instantly bisecting the blond and sending blood showering onto the hull of the airship. The pilot fell to the ground without a sound from his mouth, his separated body making all the groaning and convulsing for him. Silverius did not hesitate with his next action. He brought his sword to the side, clicking the safety off, and in the same motion aimed its tip right at Cidolas’ head. As soon as the blond’s upper half hit the ground, if not a moment before, Silverius shot two rifle bullets right into his forehead. Now the kill was confirmed. Cidolas convulsed on the ground, the muscles in his hands reflexively letting go of the Crystal in the process. As smoke poured from the barrel attached to Silverius’ blade, the two looked right at each other, dead red eyes meeting dead obsidian ones. Suddenly, the blond spoke. “You have made a grave mistake.” Then, finally, the life visibly faded from his body. Cidolas’ head absently rolled to the side, and blood started to freely pour from the two wounds above his eyes. Both Silverius and Maria stood still for some time, both too shaken to move or speak. After what felt like an eternity of tension, Silverius sighed, exhaling a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “It worked,” he said more to himself than to Maria. With a flourish he returned his sword to his belt, and next he bent over to pick up the Crystal. A single drop of blood had gotten on the fist-sized sapphire jewel; shaking his head, Silverius returned it to his pouch and looked back at Maria. She was staring at the body with her hands drawn up over her chest. They were shaking, and it didn’t look like she could peel her gaze away from the brutally dismembered corpse. Delicately, a single tear started to appear in the corner of her eye. Silverius decisively stood between her and Cidolas’ body and raised the hood of her cloak over Maria’s head. After he did so, he took her hands in his and looked down at her confidently. “Come on. We should get out of here.” It took her a moment of searching in Silverius’ eyes to speak. “Where are we going, sir Crono?” “Away from here. Southeast. Anywhere you want, after I take care of some final business.” This seemed to placate her for the moment, and Maria nodded. Silverius led her to the motorcycle Cidolas had pulled from the airship’s cargo hold and knocked up the kickstand keeping it stationary. The keys were left in the engine port and everything; his plan had worked spectacularly. As Silverius sat in the seat of the motorcycle and Maria pulled herself behind him, her hands delicately holding tightly onto the mercenary’s waist, she buried her face in his back and spoke, her voice vibrating against him and sending shivers down his spine. “Before you leave, sir Crono, I… I have a favor to ask of you. Is that alright?” Silverius paused and looked back. “Yes, of course it’s alright. Anything you need, I swear I’ll do it. Anything.” “Alright, then. Sir Crono, please… Promise me you’ll never kill again.” ***** The next five days were some of the best days of Silverius’ life. Being very careful to avoid any sort of large city, Silverius drove southward, east of King’s Town, west of Castle Kornelia, east of Empiria, far west of Zeta Academy, and just slightly east of the expansive Mirage Desert that occupied most of central Inusia. Within a few days they would be in Straits City, one of the southernmost cities in Inusia, one that was known for its black market and lack of bureaucratical power. (The farther south one went in Inusia, the less involved its government was.) There in Straits, Silverius planned on selling the Crystal, and from there he and Maria would be free to roam wherever their hearts desired. For the first time in his memory, as he traveled through Inusia’s countryside, he found himself enjoying the scenery. Perhaps that, he theorized, was Maria’s doing. She was enthralled with the world around her, constantly begging to take lengthy breaks and walk around plains of grass, or visit outskirts of forests, or look off in the distance whenever the sea poked its head over the horizon. And although he usually allowed these breaks whenever he had to sneak into a settlement and buy gas for the motorcycle, Silverius often found himself returning to watch and observe right alongside his companion and partner. These were especially romantic occasions, and these were the times when Silverius and Maria indulged in their feelings the most. They did not sleep together, not yet – the relationship, if it could be called that, was moving slowly. Neither of them had even spoken of their feelings to each other; they were simply known. That was enough for the both of them. Gentle kisses, loving embraces, passionate explorations of the others’ mouths – it was sufficient. Their romantic feelings were in such abundance that they could be sustained off it for a long while, and it only continued to grow as they traveled and bonded over shared experiences of the sublime. Their love was a peaceful one. Perhaps that was what fascinated Silverius the most. Now, the final night before they would arrive in Straits City and unlock their definitive freedom, Silverius and Maria were standing near the edge of a cliff, both of their backs leaning against the motorcycle standing on its kickstand. Ahead of them, the brilliant midnight blue waters of the Voledar Bay shimmered beneath the sun as it finally set beneath the horizon. Slowly and silently, the brilliant reds and pinks of the sky faded, and the gray clouds melded into the black night behind them. The sky and the sea became one within minutes. The Voledar Bay stretched for less than a hundred miles before it sifted into the King’s Sea, the largest ocean in the world that bordered all of Inusia on the east. Ahead of them the sun had set, and it seemed like the entire world awaited them. “This has been the most fun I’ve ever had in my life,” Silverius stated breathlessly once the sun had completely vanished beneath the horizon. He had feared, somehow, that if he spoke a moment before, the beauty of the scene would be shattered. “Just roaming. And being with you.” Maria was in Silverius’ arms, but now she seemed to melt closer to him and place her hand on his chest. “I haven’t had as long a life as you, sir Crono, but I have to agree. I want to thank you. I’ve wanted to thank you for so long.” He looked down at his partner with a look of surprise. “Huh? Thank me for what?” “All of this. Saving my life back in those sewers. Standing up for me in the airship. Killing so many people, just for my sake…” She sniffed, but did not look away from the horizon. Silverius couldn’t see her face beneath her bangs. “You’ve given me so much…” Silverius chuckled. “It’s nothing. You haven’t been a burden to me, at all.” He meant it – after years of Inusian military service and subsequent years of mercenary work, he had slowly accrued enough dolarov to last him in savings for quite some time, and his recent travels had only exhausted about a quarter of his total money supply. "No, I mean it, sir Crono. I only wish I can pay you back, somehow. I’ll be doing my best. It’s just incredible to me, how all of this has happened, we only met by coincidence. You saved my life and gave me one worth living… on a whim.” Silverius was at a loss for words for a good amount of time. “…Don’t say that. This wasn’t a whim. Do you know what my father said to me, before he died?” That was a lie, of course – neither of the men he considered his ‘father’ died a natural death – but that wasn’t worth bringing up now. Not yet. Finally, Maria looked up to Silverius, and he could see that tears were welling up in the corners of her eyes. Despite himself, he smiled warmly at her, and rubbed his hand on her arm lovingly. “The crotchety old man always used to say that everyone we meet happens for a reason. He believed in destiny. I don’t know if he was right or not… but it always made me feel good, at least.” “Wow… Your father sounds very smart, sir Crono. I guess that’s where you get it from?” She giggled. “You know, you don’t have to call me ‘sir’ Crono. Just Crono is fine.” He raised his right hand and caressed Maria’s face. She blushed and looked down at his hand. “W-won’t that be embarrassing? Or too informal? I, I couldn’t… Er… Your hand?” Realizing it for the first time, she reached down and held Silverius’ right hand. From his palm up to the top of his bicep, dirty white bandages were wrapped tightly around his appendage. “Did you hurt yourself?” “Huh? No, of course not. I can’t believe you haven’t noticed… I’ve always worn these bandages.” “Really? Why is that?” “Ah… Well…” The mercenary bit his lip and looked off to the dark bay in front of him. This was something he had never told anyone – not his squadmates and friends, not even his second father, Captain Vinahkman. But what was the point keeping any secrets, now? ‘I promised her. My life of secrets and killing is over. I gave her my word.’ Silently, Silverius started to peel away the bandages on his right arm. “I’ve never shown these to anyone. They’re the final secret I have… the burden I carry on my body for the rest of my life. A reminder of who I really am.” When he finished, Silverius pulled away the mass of off-white bandages, showcasing in the light of the moon his lean and muscled right arm. It was decorated haphazardly with long, curling brown scars, darker than his skin and twisting from his biceps down to his wrist. Maria looked at them with horror and concern. “What could have possibly happened to you, Crono? Doesn’t it hurt?” She traced her hands over the slightly bulging scars. “No, they don’t hurt anymore. I got them when I was just a kid. My arm was almost torn apart in the process of my very first murder. The man I killed… was my father.” Maria couldn’t help but look up at Silverius with wide eyes and an open mouth, but Silverius greeted her with a warm smile and continued to speak. “That’s why I’m find with revealing it to you, Maria. That life is behind me now. I promised you, and I meant it. As long as I’m with you, I’ll never kill again.” Deeper, even deeper, Maria gazed into Silverius’ eyes, until she was practically leaning on his chest. Her eyes seemed to quiver and shake; in the light of the moon, her beauty was especially vibrant. “I remember, Crono. I want to say thank you for that, as well. I’m so glad that I get to be here with you… and that I can help you. I’m so glad you don’t have to live like that anymore.” She sniffed and smiled slowly as a blush crept across her cheeks. “Oh! I did it… I called you Crono. I hope you don’t mind…” “I love you,” Silverius simply said in response. He wrapped his hand around Maria’s waist and pulled her to him, and their lips locked. ‘That’s right,’ Silverius thought as his eyes closed and his lips met with those of the one person in the world he loved. ‘The only part of me that hasn’t committed a sin is my lips. Just like that, I’m giving away everything to this girl, aren’t I?’ ‘That’s fine, though. I’m happy.’ What a foolish thing it was to be in love, Silverius realized. How unfitting. Naturally they broke apart, and both the mercenary and his partner looked in each other’s eyes with nothing but love. Maria’s eyes were quivering more than before, and within a moment tears started to freely fall down her delicate cheeks. Silverius wanted to raise a hand and caress her face, wiping away her tears, but she looked so beautifully fragile that he was afraid he would break her. “Excuse me, Crono. I’m sorry. It’s just… This moment is so perfect. It’s more happiness than I could have ever imagined I’d be able to feel. And knowing that I… That all of this…” She made a noise halfway between a gasp and a sob, and buried her face in Silverius’ chest. He put his arms around hers, but she refused to move, and before long she started to openly weep. “What? Maria, what’s wrong?” “I’m sorry, Crono. I’m sorry. Thank you so much.” “What are you talking about? Maria? Talk to me. What’s wrong?” “I have one last favor to ask of you, Crono. Please… I have no right to ask you this, but please, make me one last promise. No, on second thought… Two promises.” “O-of course. I told you I’d do anything you asked me to do. But… What do you mean last?” “Please. You have to agree, now. You have to promise me that you’ll follow what I ask, no matter what.” “…Okay. I promise it. No, I swear it. Anything you ask, I will follow my word.” “Thank you. Thank you, Crono. I cannot ever thank you enough. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” “What are these promises? What do you – Hey!” Out of nowhere, Silverius felt a presence behind him, instantly right in the midst of his senses. He felt hands grab up between his armpits, pulling his arms back and lifting him into the air, and he felt something reach into his waist pouch. Because he was driving the motorcycle, he kept the pouch on his back, unlike his usual practice of keeping it on his front – and he had been too occupied to realize it. He felt his strength instantly failing him, as if something was sucking the life out of him, and instantly Silverius could do little more than flail his arms around and look straight at Maria’s face. She was looking up at him with pure misery painted on her countenance, but she did not move or show any sort of alarm. She only held her hands clasped together over her heart, his dirty white bandages clasped tightly in her fists. Tears streamed freely down her cheeks, but with a sniff, she put on a forced smile and gave her best look of happiness to Silverius. It was the farthest from happy he had ever seen her. “Your last promise is to forget about me, Crono. And swear to me that you’ll be happy.” ...End of Part Nine. <- Previous Page; Crystal Arc | Main Page | Next Page ->